Many known hydrocarbon reservoir treatments incorporate the use of water or oil-based treatments in order increase production from a production well. One such method is known as secondary recovery, in which an external fluid such as water or gas is injected into a reservoir through injection wells located in earth that are in fluid communication with the production well. The purpose of secondary recovery is to maintain reservoir pressure and to displace hydrocarbons toward the production wellbore in the production well. U.S. Pat. No. 3,520,366 is one example of such a method. Unfortunately, the secondary recovery stage reaches its limit when the injected fluid (water or gas) begins to be produced in considerable amounts from the production well, making production no longer economical.
Treatments such as secondary recovery tend to contribute vast amounts of damaging water to a formation, which eventually contaminate the formation to the point where it is not economically feasible to continue production. Many wells have been shut down due to such water or other damage.
Thus, there exists a need for repairing a formation from fluid damage.